Jim Hall is a decent person, but we have a far superior Democratic candidate, by the name of Stephanie Richard, who is running against him and who has regularly supported Democratic issues.
Jim Hall has been on the job as an appointee and has supported Republican issues even at the expense of Los Alamos County during the brief tenure of his appointment.
Most disappointing of all is that Jim Hall’s campaign itself sent out the misleading press release which stated that Democratic State Senators expressed “support.[of]...Jim Hall in his campaign for State House of Representatives (emphasis added).” Appointed Rep. Hall subsequently apologized for “any misunderstanding” stating that he did not mean they had endorsed him. Clearly, Mr. Hall expected this statement to be interpreted as an endorsement by Democrats which he did not have. I was also disappointed to receive misleading mailers about Jim Hall that are funded primarily by Oil & Gas Companies. In addition, I have received telephone surveys that misrepresent Stephanie Richard’s policies.
An issue that Stephanie supports that I favor is Combined Reporting and it is a matter that concerns all of our local businesses. As the law now stands, any corporation that operates in more than one state, can choose which state to pay state corporate income taxes in. Naturally large companies choose to pay their taxes in the states with the lowest tax rates. The new combined reporting law would have stopped that practice requiring large companies such as WalMart and Starbucks to pay New Mexico state tax on what is earned in New Mexico.
Coffee Booth shouldn’t have to pay more taxes than Starbucks, but it does. CB Fox shouldn’t have to pay more taxes than Walmart but it does. A recent mailer claimed “Out-of-State Corporation Loophole Closed” and that Jim Hall had passed this law. The bill referred to appears to be HB97 introduced by Rep. Ben Lujan which did pass the State House by a 65-0 vote.
Unfortunately, this bill did nothing to correct the inequality and level the playing field for local small businesses. The fact is that when combined reporting came before him, Jim Hall voted along party lines against that bill. How can we trust him to represent our interests if Jim Hall (and the out of district Oil & Gas Companies that support him) appear to be purposely misleading the voters in our district? Jim Hall advertises that he is “above petty politics.” It appears this is not the case.